Dan Juday

Hey Mike, lets make it easy for him! JTR

Reaction Research sells two tops for the Z. Two quality levels. E-mail John and see if he can help. He's a great guy and very talented. info@reactionresearch.com <info@reactionresearch.com>

One more item I forgot. I had to clearance for the clutch fork as well. And, like jtr says, I cut about 1 1/2" off the bottom of the gas pedel.

Ok, here is what I came up with: If you measure from the center hole in the tranny crossmember (tranny mount hole) to the ends of the crossmember you find a long side and a short side. I mounted mine with the long side on the drivers side with the tranny mount hole offset to the front on the car. I lined up the hump on that side with the edge of the tunnel. I did a little clearancing on the drivers side just to mount the crossmember straight. Most of the clearancing was done on the passengers side. I measured 1 1/4" from the end of the tranny crossmember to the inside edge of the frame rail on the drivers side, and 3/4" on the passengers. In other words, I did all I could to move the tail of the tranny to the passengers side and I still had clearance problems with the shifter and the hole. Just for reference I also measured from the front edge/center of the front suspension crossmember to the center of the tranny mount hole and came up with 47". Now, having said all that, my car is a '73. I understand that the tunnel changed quite a bit from year to year. I don't think the position of the frame rails changed but I could be wrong. Re-reading your first post it sounds like the crossmember fits tight between the frame rails. I just went back out and measured and I have about 25" between my rails at the tranny crossmember. My JTR crossmember is about 23 1/4" long. Hope this helps. It's nice to be able to give back. The guys here went out of there way to help me when I was at that stage.

Hey Nion. Give me a few hours. I'll crawl under and make some measurements. Fast Frog could lend help too, we both have Camaro T-5's. This I know from memory: The tunnel needed clearancing, on one side mostly, to line everything up. My shifter touched the drivers side of the hole, I had to trim about a 1/2" off the side of the hole. The JTR mount IS offset and will only really line up one way. I'll check it out and re-post later today. Dan

Very nice pics. I was surprised by the shifter location too. Like Fast Frog, I had to trim a little metal off the left side of the hole. Mine sits a little farther back as well. I wonder if there were differences in the shifter location in verious years of the F-body? Ditto the valve covers, Ver Kool!

I don't know guys. After looking at Lone's swoopy seats those Starion chairs are just too square. And yes, they are as heavy as pigs. Must be the hardware in them for all the adjustments. They do adjust every way from Sunday: headrest, lumbar, side bolsters, thigh support, ect. Levers and knobs everywhere!

Don't by the 3/4" Tilton. It don't work. Like Glenn said, the 7/8" Tilton works great. I used Redline ATF, spendy, probably not necessary for my 250hp motor. You got a killer deal, I paid $750 and was happy. Show this to your wife. Then go spend a little money on her. It'll go a long way.

Lone, those look really sharp. I just picked up a set of seats from a Starion tonight for $100, included the rears as well, (extra cloth for repairs if needed) no extra cost. You can see a pic here Seats on ebay They're in great shape. The guy had them stored for years in plastic bags and boxes. He sold the car but loved the seats so much he couldn't part with them. Well, 'til now.

I don't have any really good pics yet. If Eric will get his butt in gear you guys could see more. Here is one. Lighting was bad, doesn't show the shape very well.

Terry, you know I love your work. Far beyond my talents. The real spectacular part is the hood. Can't even imagine how many hours in that. I have to agree though, the headlights, while cutting edge, IMHO don't match the character of the rest of the car. Have you considered something like the ones on the Viper? The beauty of new cars is the variaty of headlight shapes available in the junk yards these days. Hope you don't mind the critique. I know you weren't looking for one when you posted.

Woof! Lots of work. Where do you want to put it? Under the license plate? Not much room anywhere else back there. This is not easy even with a fuel cell. Would be much more difficult with the stock tank.

I bought the rears. I'm using the SubtleZ fronts. Be advised that the molds were lifted right off the original car. They were designed for a racecar, hence no headlight provisions, and show car quality was not the main goal. They are a little rough and require block sanding to obtain an acceptable surface quality. You can see the DZUS fittings and lines in the gelcoat from the stripes on the original car. Having said that, I found their shape absolutely gorgeous. I tried to find a way to graft the stock headlight buckets into the YZ fronts but there was no way. They are a different shape altogether. The SubtleZ kit has much better surface quality and detail. The YZ's will require more work but I think they're worth it. Both kits have the advantage of coming from John Washington, great guy.

Hey, I just saw that thing on the tube. I'm with you, cool. Bet if we put our heads together we could get a small block in it.

Ditto the Welcome Joe. Nice choice on the body kit IMO. E-mail Eric at Zpartsabout electric windows. He has a Fairlady with factory power windows. He might have a line on the parts to convert yours.

Silver and green? Dude, you need a new monitor. Here is a test: what color is this face?

I did the tpi swap with the stock harness. The wiring was the most challenging part without a doubt. You must have the Helms manual, about $100. I just could not justify paying for a new harness when I got the original one free with the motor. The other advantage is that when you are done you get an education about your motor that is worth thousands. I would encourage you to at least try. You can always buy the Painless harness if it the rewiring is too much for you. And the Helms manual is a worthwhile investment, IMHO, even if you do go the Painless route.

Same as Mike. I changed my oil pump. Unbolt the exhaust from the headers, 6 bolts. Drop the starter, 2 bolts. The pan drops almost straight down. My 8 year old son helped me.

Don't tell 'em Len. We're the only ones who need to know.

Nezzie, correct me if I missed something, but the Velo Rossa has a full tilt front end. Doesn't that give you better battery access than stock?

Napa 7579. Trimmed a little.

If your Z car is a '73 or older you won't have to worry about it.

I ran 3/8" aluminum through the original rubber mounts. I did this after the motor, tranny and drive shaft were installed. It was very difficult. It would have been imposible with steel. If you have everything out than you can probably do it in steel without a problem. Copper doesn't work harden. I'm an A/C mechanic and work with copper tube every day. A/C systems vibrate like crazy. Very, very rarely do you find leaks from fatigue. What you find is abration leaks. If you have it mounted in rubber, no problem. Also, FI pressures are no way near the limits of copper tube. A/C systems normally operate at 250 to 300psi. I've seen pressures as high as 500psi. Any of the three materials will be more than adequate. More important will be the quality of the instalation.

Copper works. It was used for years in the early days of cars. Steel is used now because it is cheeper. I used aluminum, no problem there either and I'm running a tpi motor.

Something to keep in mind when bending aluminum is "work hardening". I’m also no metallurgist but I believe this is much more of an issue with aluminum than steel. The aluminum will be harder and more brittle in the areas where it is bent. Is this not why billet aluminum parts are more desirable than bent parts?